The Cattle Market....

No, I'm not talking about the SOS discotheque (do we still use that word?) I'm talking about literally the old cattle and livestock market which used to be between Bank Street and the Slade. It became a rather tacky ordinary market for a while until Crest Nicholson recently developed it into a housing development. Having seen this steadily going up day by day, I have to say that Tonbridgeblog is rather impressed with the whole project. Yes there are a few things which could have been done better, such as the site access road-pedestrian hazzard and keeping the noise down at school kicking out time etc, but on the whole it seems to be a worthwhile addition to the town. Let's face it the site was pretty much derelict before, being used once a week as a market and the rest of the week as a cheap place to park for local office workers. I can sort of understand the NIMBY arguments and, if it were being built in my back yard maybe I would think diiferently, but make, no mistake, this is ten time better than what was there before, it enhances the town centre and it helps to stop the countryside from being churned up. Let's be honest what was there before really wasn't that great, now was it? I understand that the development is virtually sold out up to phase 2 and that Crest is seeking planning permission for the third phase, which will eventually link up with Lansdown Rd near the Ivy House traffic lights. This section is to include shops and offices within what was the old public hall/Capitol Cinema area. So let's let them finish the job off with minmal interuptions so that we can have the old part of town in some sort of decent shape again...